Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 20.12.20

 Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable. 

 

- Christopher Howse: 'A Pilgrim in Spain'*  

Covid

Spanish vaccinations are to begin on 27 December, it’s reported.

 

Living La Vida Loca in Galicia/Spain

Yesterday, I happened to see the colourful bullfight scene in Around the World in 80 Days, set in the pretty Plaza Mayor of Chinchón, south east of Madrid. This involves Passepartout contending with the smallest, thinnest, youngest bull imaginable. It must’ve had Spanish cinema audiences rolling in the aisles when it was shown here. You can enjoy it here on Youtube. No blood, of course. IMDB adds these interesting notes: 1. The bullfighting sequence was added because Cantinflas (Passepartout) had bullfighting experience. He was actually in the ring with the bull, eschewing the use of a stunt double. 2. Cantinflas was Mexican and, at the time, the richest film star in the world(!), getting top billing in Latin countries, and 3. The bullfighting scene wasn't in the book the film was based on. If it had been, I'm sure the bull would have been a lot more impressive. And dangerous. 

Decades ago, the (Spanish) owner of a restaurant offered me a Spanish white wine in place of the Chablis he didn't have, assuring me it was just as good. And, indeed, it was. As it was from the bodega of Marqués de Murrieta, I wasn't surprised to read of this Spanish achievement. And now I've just read that Castillo Ygay White 1986 was the first Spanish white wine to achieve the highest possible Parker Score of 100. That was around the year of my enjoyment of it.

More here on Spanish delights.

Having not seen for well over a year the male prostitute I mentioned yesterday, I passed him again at 10 last night, as I walked to my car on the edge of the city-centre. Swinging a pink umbrella, to go with his carrot-coloured hair and his multi-coloured coat. A form of advertising, I guess.

I forgot to post this diagram of the narco-sub first thing yesterday. So here it is, for those who missed its:-

And here's a detailed description of it from reader Perry.

The UK & The EU

Just in case you're desperate to know . . .

Ever the cynic, Richard North today: There are a multitude of practical issues to resolve, and there are endless tales of woe about businesses and government systems not being ready. Perhaps this "new variant" coronavirus has come at just the right time for Johnson, keeping traffic off the roads and suppressing economic activity. Cancelling Christmas may, in these circumstances, be worth the risk if it serves to obscure the effects of his botched Brexit, and keeps minds focused on Covid rather than the disaster he has waiting for us in the wings.

The Way of the World

Not just in Scotland, I’m sure.

Spanish

Trasnochador: ‘A late-nighter'*: Appropriate to have learned it ahead of the 5 late (and long) family meals of my neighbours over the next 2 weeks . . .

* Basically, almost everyone Spanish.

 

English/Spanish

I saw the word ‘Cainite’ in a translation of a Spanish article. I guessed it referred to a sort of fraternal struggle, perhaps to the death. Here's what the Royal Academy has for it:-

1. Perteneciente o relativo a Caín.

2. Dicho de un sentimiento o de una actitud de rechazo: Que se dirige contra familiares o amigos.

3. Dicho de una persona: Que se deja llevar por el odio o la enemistad contra familiares y amigos.

English dictionaries seem to have only these 2 meanings:-

1. A descendant of Cain, one of the sons of Adam

2. A member of a gnostic sect that regarded the Old Testament as an account of the work of a demiurge and a distortion of the true nature of such men as Cain.

Finally . . .

Reader Spain followed up my reference to Cocks Lane in Piers Ploughman with this Wiki gem.

* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious

Protestant.